The Heir's Diaries
by Musical-mutiny
Summary: Katya and Mia Thermopolis are just normal girls living in San Francisco with their mother. When their estranged grandmother arrives for a surprise visit with some shocking information, she changes their lives forever.
1. Chapter 1: She wants to become a Mime

Katya groaned as her hand shot out from underneath her covers to turn off the alarm. She sighed and sat up, still trying to wake herself up, before getting out of bed and making her way over to the bathroom to begin getting ready for school.

She was just putting the finishing touches on her makeup when she heard her mother yell from downstairs, "Time for school!"

Katya raced down the stairs and into the kitchen, placing a quick kiss on her mother's cheek, "Morning mom." She greeted as she reached into the cabinet for a pop tart.

"Morning baby." Helen smiled over at her eldest daughter before calling back up the stairs, "Stop daydreaming, or you'll be late for school."

Katya chuckled, fixing herself a cup of coffee to go, "She's probably staring at herself in the mirror." Helen laughed at her daughter's remark as she continued to call for her youngest.

After a couple more tries, Mia finally came sliding down the fire pole and made her way into the kitchen with the rest of her family.

"Morning." The younger Thermopolis grumbled.

Katya smirked at her younger sister over the rim of her coffee cup, "You look so excited for the day to begin."

Mia shot her sister a half-hearted glare, "Shut up." She reached over and stole the rest of her sister's pop tart, ignoring Katya's complaints, and shoving it into her mouth.

"Are you feeling confident?" Helen asked as she looked worriedly at her frizzy little girl

"Not really." Mia groused as she made her own cup of coffee.

Katya sighed and patted her little sister's back, "Just try to remember Mia, when you make your speech, don't look at anybody."

Helen nodded in agreement, "Your sister's right. Pick a spot on the back wall, don't take your eyes off it, and speak loudly."

Mia gave a half smile, "Thanks, Mom." She took the trash bag her mother offered and began heading out the door.

Helen then turned to Katya, "How's your Valedictorian speech coming along?"

Katya shrugged, "It's coming, and I have a whole month before I have to deliver it so I'm not too worried right now." She walked around the kitchen island and gave her mother a kiss on the cheek, "By mom." before collecting her bag and following her sister out the door.

"Good morning Mr. Robutusen." Katya smiled at their next-door neighbor, "Do you want a ride to school?" Katya asked her sister and she unlocked her 1990 dodge challenger and threw her book bag into the passenger seat.

Mai shook her head, "No thanks, I'm meeting Lily halfway."

Katya shrugged, "Alright, see you there."

She slipped into her car and took off. Katya offered Mia a ride to school every morning, but she declined almost every time, preferring to ride her scooter with her best friend Lily.

Katya pulled up along the curb of the Moscovitz's home and honked her horn. She didn't have to wait long before Michael, Lily's older brother and Katya's best friend, walked out.

"Hey." Katya greeted him with a smile as he slipped into the car.

"Morning,"

Katya grinned over at him as she put the car into drive, "How's that salutatorian speech coming along?"

Michael rolled his eyes, "Probably just as well as your valedictorian speech, Miss Procrastinator."

She frowned over at him, "Shut up."

Katya parked her car in the school lot and looked over at Michael, "You ready for this?"

He rolled his eyes again as they stepped out of the car, "Just kill me."

She snickered at him as the two began making their way to the front entrance and up the stairs.

"Hey Katya," One of the boy's in the soccer team called out to her as they passed by, "When are you going to let me take you out? I promise I'll show you a good time."

Katya kept moving past them ignoring the wolf-whistles that his friends made. Michael followed behind her, but turned around as they passed and flipped the guy off.

The two of them then began making their way to their first class of the day.

Katya didn't see Mia again until school was over and they were making their way to work. The two girls and Michael met at Katya's car and Mia folded up her scooter, sticking it in her sister's trunk.

The car ride was filled with inane chatter until they dropped Michael off at work and began making their way to their own job.

"So," Katya began as she pulled out of Doc's, "How did your speech go?"

Mia frowned, "I threw up," She whispered sadly, "then I ran away."

"Oh, Mia." Her older sister responded compassionately. She reached over and grabbed Mia's hand, "It'll get easier."

They arrived at Rocks around the clock, an indoor rock climbing spot that both girls worked at.

The sisters went into the locker room and changed before heading their separate ways.

They were half way into their shift and about to take a break when they met up at the front desk.

Katya walked over to the counter and smiled at her little sister, "I got another huge tip from Mr. Hersh."

Mia smiled back, "Oh and I got one from Mrs. Taubman, and we are doing well today." She then smirked over at her big sister, "You know Mr. Hersh only gives you those large tips because he enjoys trying to look down your shirt."

Katya frowned at her sister, but did get a chance to respond as Helen walked into the building and over to the two girls, "Hi mom." They said simultaneously and smiled at her.

She grinned at her eldest then turned to Mia, "You threw up," she started slightly amused, "and you ran away."

"I'm trying to forget about it." Mia grumbled jokingly.

Katya grinned over at the two before looking at Brian behind the counter, "Can we have some shoes and chalk, Brian?"

Helen laughed, "I'II go talk to your debate teacher." She frowned, "What's his name?"

Katya popped her head over, "Mr. O'Connell."

"Right," Helen nodded, "and we'll get this all straightened out."

Mia sighed, "Mom, I am never going to be a good public speaker, okay?"

Katya nodded, "She's right, you might as well just call him and tell him Mia had decided to become a mime."

"I can do that." Helen agreed and the three laughed, "Oh, your grandmother called."

Katya and Mia had bent down to slip on their shoes when she said this, but their head quickly popped back up at her announcement, "What?" they questioned incredulously.

Helen rolled her eye, "The Live one. What did girls think I'd gone insane suddenly?" she scoffed.

Katya smirked, "Too late for that." And she quickly dodged the playful slap her mother sent her way.

Helen laughed, "No the one that lives in Genovia. Clarisse."

"This is the first time she's ever contacted us." Mia spoke up in confusion.

Katya nodded in agreement, "What'd she say she wanted?"

Helen shrugged nonchalantly, "She's in town, and she wants to have tea."

Mia looked at her mother incredulously, "Tea?"

Katya chuckled, "Right, she came all the way from Europe to have tea with us?" she questioned sarcastically.

"I think I'm gonna climb a little bit." Helen evaded her daughters' questions and walked over to the wall.

The girls looked at each other in confusion before rushing after their mother, "Mom!"

"Isn't this the same woman who wanted you two to get a divorce?" Katya asked as they began to scale the wall.

Helen huffed, "Well, she didn't approve of me, but Philippe and I made the decision to divorce on our own."

"Why should Katya and I go see this snobby lady who ignores us?" Mia asked childishly.

Katya frowned, "She doesn't ignore us; she sends us birthday gifts."

Helen sighed, "Girls, she's your father's mother. Just go see her tomorrow. Please?"

When she saw that neither girls had been swayed she tried again, "She said your father hoped that you three would meet someday."

Katya's heart clenched and she tore her eyes away. Unlike Mia, who was just a baby when their father left, Katya actually knew and had a relationship with their father; he was around for the first three years of her life and had tried to keep in contact with her after he left. It was heartbreaking for her when he died.

Katya sighed and nodded, "All right, I'll go."

And Mia followed her example, "I guess I will too then."


	2. Chapter 2: The Pears look delicious

Katya laughed happily as she danced around the music room with some of her other classmates; this was her free period so she had come to hang out with Michael, who was playing the piano for the choir.

At the moment, however, he was sharing his bench with Grove High School's pretty boy, Josh Bryant.

Katya turned her head and grinned over and Michael as she shook her hips and winked at him, she watched as his eyes dilated and a little blush came to his cheeks.

"Okay," Ms. Wells called out as she stepped into the room, "AII right, I win. Band practice is over." The music stopped playing and everyone began exiting the room, "I have a music class here, out!"

Katya let out a breath and walked over to sit beside Michael. She wasn't part of music class, but Ms. Wells didn't mind that she stayed as long as she didn't disrupt the lesson.

"Hey," Michael greeted quietly, though he seemed to be avoiding eye contact and was shifting in his seat quite a bit.

Katya smiled back over at him, "Hey, you." She greeted back,

"You, uh," he paused and swallowed nervously, "You looked really good out there."

She smirked, "Thanks, I'm glad you liked what you saw."

Michael gave an anxious laugh, "You wanna head over to Doc's with me after school? We got band practice this afternoon. You know, come watch, uh maybe, if you want." He rambled as he got the sheet music ready to begin playing.

Katya grinned at him, "If I didn't know any better, Michael, I'd think you were asking me on a date."

He rubbed the back of his neck, "And if it was?"

Katya smiled happily, she had been waiting for Michael to ask her out for a long time. But then she frowned, "Oh, I can't today."

"Oh." He replied dejectedly

"I would love to, really," she interjected quickly, "but my grandmother's in town, and Mia and I promised we'd go see her after school."

Michael sent her a quirky smile, "Some other time then."

"Definitely," She agreed as they choir began singing.

After school both girls met up at Katya's car after school so they could begin making their way to their grandmother's house.

It took them a while to find the right location and when they did, Katya pulled over on the curb and parked the car before both of them got out and approached the gate.

Katya pressed the buzzer on the speaker and turned to look at Mia, "Are you nervous?"

Mia opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off, "School tours are on Saturday, young ladies."

Katya frowned in confusion before pressing the talk button, "We're actually here for a meeting with our grandmother."

"Name?" The voice box spoke again sounding bored.

"Clarisse Renaldi." Katya answered.

"Oh." He paused in shock, "Please come to the front door." and the gates began to part.

"Thank you," Katya smiled as the two girls began to enter.

Katya looked over towards Mia, only to find her taking a shortcut through the grass, "Mia," she scolded, "that's rude."

Just as she finished speaking a voice spoke up, "Get off the grass!" Then the message repeated in another language.

Mia raced off the grass towards her big sister and the two stared at one another in shock, before bursting out in laughter. They got to the front steps of the building and Mia was about to knock when the door was opened.

"Welcome, ladies." The man greeted both girls as they entered the house, "We've been expecting you."

Katya smiled at the man before turning to look around the room in amazement, the place looked like a palace. It was just as lovely on the inside as it was on the outside.

"Um, oh, be careful." Katya turned back around at the sound of her sister's voice, only to see a man standing behind Mia feeling around her book bag, "Please don't crush my soy nuts."

The man scoffed, "Your soy nuts are safe." before releasing her bag and walking over to Katya. Without prompting, she handed her bag over to him for checking.

Once he was done, the man handed her bag back to her and moved over to the front desk. He looked down at the butler and nodded, "Okay."

The butler nodded and smiled at the two girls, "Right this way." and began leading them out of the entryway and into a grand seating room.

Katya looked around the room in awe as she moved to take a seat on one of the couches provided placing her book bag down beside her, while Mia continued to explore the room.

She had just reached her hand out to run across a vase when the butler startled her, "Please, make yourselves comfortable."

Mia jumped in fright and walked over to sit down on the couch across from her sister, letting her book bag drop onto the floor, causing the butler to have to jump over it to get by.

Katya was still admiring the lovely room when Mia caught her attention, "Katya, look at the flowers."

Both girls looked down at the flower arrangement sitting on the table before them. There were pears mixed in with the flowers. Once again Mia reached out to touch them only to be startled, once again, by someone entering the room.

"...And we need new pillows for the prime minister's wife." A lovely blonde woman stepped into the room speaking on the phone through a headset, "She's allergic to goose feathers."

The woman ended her call and turned to smile at Katya and Mia, "Hello Katyana, Amelia I'm Charlotte, from the Genovian attache corps" The sisters stood up to greet the woman.

Mia gave the woman a nervous smile, "Hi."

Katya smiled as well, "Hello, nice to meet you."

"Um, where are we?" Mia spoke up quietly.

"The Genovian Consulate." She answered kindly.

Mia nodded in accepted, "You've got pears in your flowers." She stated nervously.

"Genovian pears." The Charlotte informed, "We're famous for them."

Katya grinned, "Well they look delicious."

She laughed, "Thank you, now, if you'll please sit down she'll be with you in a moment."

"No, I don't need a moment. I'm here." Katya watched everyone stand at attention as a lovely older woman began making her way down the stairs and stepped into the room. She seemed radiate grace and elegance as she glided through the room.

She stopped, looked at the two girls and smiled kindly, "Katyana, Amelia, I'm so glad you both could come."

Mia smiled anxiously, "Hi, you've got a great place."

Clarisse smiled back politely, "Thank you." Then Clarisse let out a small sigh, "I'm sorry, but since we've never been formally introduced, I have to ask... which one of you is Katyana and which is Amelia?"

Katya stepped forward and smiled, "I'm Katyana" she then motioned to Mia, "That is Amelia." She watched at Clarisse lost a bit of her rigidness at the declaration and a look of relief flashed over her and charlotte's faces.

"Well," she smiled brightly, "Let me look at you two." Katya and Mia smiled back at their grandmother and Mia pulled her glasses off her face.

Clarisse looked firstly at Katya, and smiled, "Katyana dear, I must say that you are blossoming into a stunningly beautiful young woman."

Katya smiled happily, "Thank you, grandmother."

Clarisse's smile brightened at being called 'grandmother' for the first time; then she turned to look at the youngest girl, her smiled faltered a bit, "And Amelia, you look so..." she paused trying to think of the correct word, "young."

Mia paused and gave a tight smile, "Thank you," she slipped her glasses back on, "And you look so..." Clarisse watched her expectantly, "clean."

Katya grinned over at her sister and had to bite her lip to stop the laugh that wanted to be released.

Clarisse laughed tensely and turned to face Charlotte, "Charlotte, would you check on tea in the garden?" the woman nodded and walked out of the room. Clarisse turned back to the girls, "Please, sit."

The two girls moved back to their original seats and Clarisse took the chair facing the two of them. There was a bout of uncomfortable silence as the only sound filling the room was Mia knocking her teeth together, while Katya and Clarisse watched her oddly.

Finally, Katya had, had enough, "Our mother said you had something you wanted to discuss with us."

Clarisse smiled over at Katya, "Yes I do."

"So..." Mia started, "Shoot."

"Oh, yes," Clarisse said with a smile, "before I ''shoot'' I have something I want to give you two."

She picked up a lovely silver jewelry box with several engravings, "Here." She handed it to Katya, then she handed Mia a little black box.

Katya smiled at her grandmother, "Thank you." she looked down and opened the box. Inside was an exquisite silver necklace, it had a pendant in the shape of a heart, and on the front of the heart was a symbol of some kind.

Katya sat the silver box down in her lap and took the necklace out to look closer at it, then looked up at Clarisse, "It's beautiful." She breathed.

"I'm glad you like it. It's the Genovian crest. It was mine when I was young." Clarisse smiled at the young girl, "As the oldest daughter, it rightfully belongs to you."

Then she pointed at the silver jewelry box resting in Katya's lap, "And that was my great-grandmother's, it's very old."

Katya smiled, "I'll be sure to keep it safe." She opened her book bag and slipped the box inside carefully, before turning to see what Mia had received. It was a lovely silver and gold charm bracelet.

The sisters smiled at each other, "Do you want me to help you put it on?" Katya asked motioning to the bracelet and Mia nodded.

"Now," Katya started as she clipped the bracelet around Mai's wrist and handed her the necklace to help her put it on, "what did you want to talk with us about?"

Clarisse watched the two girls fondly, "Something that l think will have a very big impact upon both your lives, especially yours Katyana."

Katya looked at her in confusion while Mia just grinned playfully, "I already had braces."

But Clarisse didn't laugh at her joke, "No, it's bigger than orthodontia."

Before she could say any more, Charlotte re-entered the room, "The tea is served, ma'am."


	3. Chapter 3: Rule? A Country?

The three of them had moved out to the garden and were sitting around a table beside the fountain enjoying their tea.

Katya had just lifted her cup to her lips when Mia started clinking her spoon against the edge of her cup. The noise brought everyone's attention over to the table and Katya could see the people off to the side grimacing at the sound, while Clarisse just watched her youngest granddaughter, perplexed.

Once Mia had licked the spoon off and set it down, Katya took her first sip of her tea, trying not to cringe in embarrassment of her younger sister.

Finally Clarisse began to speak, "Katyana, Amelia, have either of you ever heard of Edward Christoff Philippe Gerard Renaldi?"

"No..." Mia said, confused and Clarisse turned her attention to Katya.

Katya frowned in concentration, "The name sounds a bit familiar, but I can't place from where."

"He was the crown prince of Genovia." Clarisse explained to the two girls.

"Hmm..." Mia hummed, nodding her head.

"What about him?" Katya finally asked.

Clarisse took a breath, "Edward Christoff Philippe Gerard Renaldi... was your father."

Katya almost dropped the teacup she was holding as she stared at her grandmother in shock.

Mia, however, though it was a joke, "Yeah, sure. Our father was the prince of Genovia."

Clarisse obviously didn't understand sarcasm, because she was nodding her head along with Mia until she said, "You're joking."

Clarisse looked at the two girls in confusion, "Why would I joke about something like this?"

Katya shook her head, "No that's impossible, daddy wasn't a prince. If he really was that would make us..." she trailed off as she looked over at her little sister.

"Exactly," Clarisse smiled at the two, "you are not just Katyana and Amelia Thermopolis" She first looked to Mia, "You are Amelia Mignonette Thermopolis Renaldi princess of Genovia."

Clarisse then turned her attention to Katya and smiled, "And you are Katyana Nicollet Thermopolis Renaldi princess and rightful heir to the Genovian throne."

"M-me?" Katya hesitantly pointed to herself, "A princess? Heir to the throne?"

"Shut Up!" Mia exclaimed, staring at her elder sister in shock.

Clarisse looked up from her tea, appalled, "I beg your pardon, shut up?"

An attendant walked over to Clarisse, "Your Majesty, in America it doesn't always mean ''Be quiet.''..." he continued to try and explain what the fraise meant while the two girls continued to stare at one another in astonishment.

"Oh, I understand. Thank you." She interrupted politely and waived him off before turning back to the girls, "Nevertheless, you are princesses, and I am Queen Clarisse Renaldi."

"Why would you pick me to be your princess?" Mia asked incredulously, "Katya I understand, she's a natural born leader, always has been. She'll make a great queen."

Clarisse sighed sadly, "When your father died, your sister became the natural heir to the throne of Genovia, and you are its princess, that's our law. I'm a royal by marriage, but you two are a royal by blood." She then turned to look at Katya, "Katyana, you can rule."

Katya looked up at the woman in shock, "Rule!? A country!?" Clarisse nodded, "Look, I can handle a couple of high school debates, captain a sports team or two, I can even give a graduation speech, but..." she took a breath and frowned, "Grandma I don't know how to lead a country."

Mia nodded along with her sister, "Right, and my only expectation in life is for to me invisible, and I'm good at it. I can't be a princess."

Clarisse looked on in sympathy, "Girls, I had other expectations also. In my wildest dreams I never expected for this to happen." She frowned sadly at the thought of her lost son, "But you are the legal heirs, the only heirs actually, to the Genovian throne and we will accept the challenge of helping the two of you become the princesses that you are."

Clarisse began to smile, "Oh, I can give you books. You will study languages, history, art, political science. I can teach you both to walk, talk, sit, stand, eat, and dress like princesses." The queen was getting a bit excited now, "And, given time, I think you two will find the palace in Genovia a very pleasant place to live."

Katya looked up in shock, "Live... in Genovia?"

"It's a wonderful country, girls." Clarisse smiled enthusiastically.

Katya nodded distractedly, "I know, I did a book report on it my freshman year." Clarisse grinned happily at that bit of information.

"I'm no princess!" Mia exclaimed anxiously, "I'm still waiting for normal body parts to arrive. I refuse to move to a different country, and do you want another reason?" she asked sarcastically, "I don't want to be a princess!"

Mia then jumped out of her chair and ran out of the garden. Clarisse stood up and tried to yell after her but it was useless. When she turned back around, she saw Katya was still sitting there.

"You didn't run." Clarisse stated, confused.

Katya shook her head, "Not in my nature." She sighed and looked down at the table, "Dad used to call me his little princess. I always just thought it was a little pet name." she teared up a little at the thought of him.

Clarisse smiled sadly, "Your father loved you very much. Leaving you was the hardest thing he ever had to do."

Katya nodded and looked up, "I don't know how to be regal and elegant, I don't know anything about being a princess or a future queen, but if you're willing to teach me I'd be willing to learn."

Clarisse's face lit up with hope and happiness, "I'm happy to hear that, Katyana. There will be quite a lot of work involved in getting you ready, but I think we can handle it."

Katya smiled back at her and stood up, "I better go; Mia's probably waiting for me by the car."

Clarisse nodded in understanding and promised to see the girls tomorrow.

The drive home was uncomfortably quiet as the too girls were busy taking in what they had just been told. Katya pulled the car in front of their home and Mia immediately jumped out and ran inside.

As soon as she was in the house Katya took off again. She drove around for a while before pulling her phone out and calling her best friend.

_"Hello?"_ he answered.

"Hello? Michael are you there?" There was a lot of noise in the background and she could barely hear him.

_"Hold on!"_ He said her before yelling, _"Hey guys keep it down!"_ it got quieter in the background, _"Hey Katya, what's up?"_

"Are you still at Doc's?" she asked him, though from the sounds in the background she had already figured he was.

_"Yeah, why?"_

"Mind if I ride over?"

_"Sure come on."_ He smiled into the phone.

She pulled into the parking lot, "Good, cause I'm already here. Come outside I need to talk to you." Then the line went dead.

Katya sat in her car waiting for a minute before Michael came outside and hopped in the passenger seat beside her, "What's up."

She turned to look at him and frowned nervously, "Remember how I was supposed to go visits my grandmother today?"

He nodded and have a half smile, "Yeah, how'd that go?"

Katya chuckled sarcastically, "Not well, I got some pretty big news while I was there."

"What happened?"

She shook her head, "You'll never believe me. I hardly believe it myself."

Michael reached over and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, "I have no reason to doubt you; you've never lied to me before."

Katya took a deep breath, "She told us that Mia and I are the princesses of a small European country call Genovia, and I am the heir to the throne now that my father has passed away."

Michael sat there staring at her in shock for a moment, "You're serious?"

"As a heart attack." She nodded frowning.

"How do you know she wasn't lying?" he asked curiously.

She shook her head, "Michael, you should have seen the place we went too, it was like a palace. There was a butler and a cook, a security team and the way all these people reacted around our grandmother; you could just tell she held a lot of power."

"Wow." He sat there, shocked, "That's crazy."

"You're telling me." She joked.

"So you're a princess and future queen."

Katya nodded, "If I decide to accept the position, but I think I've already made my decision."

He looked over at her curiously, "And what have you decided to do?"

She took a breath, "I think I'm going to accept."

He nodded in agreement, "Why?"

"Well because it's my birthright," she stated, "and if I don't take it the next in line for the throne is Mia and I know she doesn't want it. After she denies it the throne would then be given to someone outside of the family and I can't let that happen." Katya let out a groan and laid her head against the steering wheel.

Michael reached over and grabbed her hand in comfort, "Well, whatever you decided I'll be here for you."

She looked up at him and smiled, "Thank you, Michael."

"No problem," He waved her off, "Say, since you're here, you wanna come in and hang out for a while?"

"I'd love to."


	4. Chapter 4: One Sister is Enough

By the time Katya got home it was dark out and as soon as she walked in the door, she could her Mia and their mother arguing in the kitchen.

"Oh, the right thing for who, mom?" Mia shouted

"For all of us," Helen defended as Katya joined them in the kitchen and leaned against the door way, "I mean, if we secretly divorced he would be able to find a woman who would stay by his side and produce heirs; and I would be free to live my life with you two."

Katya scoffed, "Did it ever occur to you that maybe, just maybe, we would have liked to have our father in our lives?"

"Kitty please," Their mother pleaded, "we met in college, and I was young! All I wanted to do was paint."

"Then you shouldn't have had two children with the man, Helen!" Katya exclaimed, tired of listening to her mother's 'woe is me' story.

Helen sighed, "Girls, could you really see me walking one step behind someone for the rest of my life with rules and regulations and the waving and the bowing and the scraping?" Their mother was a bit of a free spirit, "I was scared!"

"Well now I'm scared!" Katya yelled, "A country has just been dropped at my feet and I don't know a thing about how to deal, or what to do with it because you made a decision that was 'best for all of us'!" Then she turned and went to her room.

She had just enough time to change into her pajamas before her sister and mother joined her in the room. She really didn't want anything to do with her mother right then, so she walked into her adjoining bathroom and began brushing her teeth.

"After the divorce, we all discussed it." Helen began telling the girls as they both tried to ignore her, "Your father and your grandmother both agreed to keep their distance so you two would have a chance at normal childhoods free of emotional complications."

Katya turned and frowned at her mother, "So it wasn't that they didn't want anything to do with us, you just didn't want them around? Great," she said sarcastically, "now instead of learning how to be queen while growing up, I've got to learn everything at once. Excellent parenting skills at play here, mom, really."

Helen sighed, "We were going to tell you both after Katya turned eighteen, but when your father died, things changed. Katya, Mia we just wanted to protect you."

"You know what," Mia's bottom lip began to quiver, "I don't feel protected." Then she walked out of her sister's bedroom.

Helen watched her leave, then turned back to her eldest daughter, "Katya, please try to understand." She begged.

Katya shook her head as she felt tears come to her eyes, "But I don't understand. All I see is that you were being selfish, not wanting to deal with the reprocutions of your actions, marrying a prince and future king, so you tore us away from our father and called it protection."

Katya sighed and walked over to sit on her bed, "I barely have any memories of dad, and now because you didn't want him involved in our lives I won't get to make any new ones with him either."

Helen looked over sadly, "I'm sorry, honey."

Katya shook her head and rolled over, turning her back to her mother, "I'm tired, close the door on your way out."

Helen sighed, "Goodnight, baby."

Katya walked down the stair the next morning only to find her grandmother sitting at the kitchen table with Helen.

She smiled over at Clarisse, "Good morning, grandma." She said, ignoring her mother, before walking over and fixing herself a cup of coffee, and grabbing a pop tart.

"Good morning, Katyana," Clarisse greeted giving Helen a look of confusion, but Helen just shook her head sadly.

Katya opened her mouth to ask her grandmother a question, but was cut off when Mia came sliding down the fire pole. Upon seeing the two women she groaned, "Oh, this is a nightmare. I'm going back to bed."

Katya chuckled, but agreed, "And I need to be getting to school." And the two girls moved to exit the room.

"Katya, Mia, the four of us have to talk." Helen interjected before the girls could leave.

"Oh, okay," Katya replied sarcastically as she turned to face her mother, "You got some other secrets you're hiding from us, Helen? Is there something else about our life we might want to know about?"

Mia nodded in agreement, "Are you two waiting to take us on a talk show to tell us we have another sister who's a duchess?"

Katya rolled her eyes jokingly, "Please god no, I can barely handle having Mia as a sister, I don't need another one."

Mia looked over at her, "Shut up." She snapped playfully.

"You have a cousin who's a contessa." Clarisse interrupted, "Fondly known as Bartholomew. Actually, we call him Pookie." She joked and Katya let out a little laugh.

"Yesterday did not go well." Helen spoke up carefully.

Katya frowned at her mother, "You think so?" she questioned sarcastically, "I pretty much just had a country dropped at my feet, with no idea what to do with it."

"Will you just listen to your grandmother?" Helen exclaimed, fed up.

The sisters rolled their eyes, but didn't protest.

"Thank you," Clarisse smiled, "in a matter of weeks we have an annual ball. I was... that is, I am hoping that I may present you both to the press and the public on that occasion. However girls, you desperately need some instruction. I speak for the entire Genovian parliament and the royal family."

"And I speak for this family." Helen added.

"Excuse me," Mia interrupted, "The only 'family' I have is Katya, because you ignored me for fifteen years..." she pointed at Clarisse, "and you lied to me." She then looked to Helen.

Katya nodded, "Families don't do stuff like this to each other."

Mia turned on her heels and walked out of the room then. Katya watched her go and sighed, before turning back to her pop tart.

"Where is she going?" Clarisse asked curiously.

Katya pointed up, "The tower."

Helen stood up and followed after her, "Mia, you can't run from everything!"

"She gets it from you." Katya mumbled under her breath as she followed her mother up to Mia's room.

Clarisse frowned, "She has a tower?" she questioned in surprise also following them up the stairs.

They reached Mia's bedroom and Katya's nose wrinkled at the sight, it was so messy. She sighed and plopped down on the unmade bed.

"Please? Just come down from there." Helen begged as she stared up at the tower.

Mia opened the door and looked down, "You know, most kids hope for a car for their sixteenth birthday, not a country!"

Katya nodded in agreement, "That's what I got."

Clarisse looked over at her eldest granddaughter, "You have a car?"

"Mhm," she nodded, "1990 Dodge Challenger, dad helped me buy it."

Helen turned back to face Clarisse, "Just make yourself comfortable."

Clarisse looked around the untidy room and Katya chuckled, "Yeah, Mia's the messy one."

Her grandmother smiled slightly at her, but decided to continue to stand there.

Helen huffed in aggravation, "This is getting us nowhere! Talk to me."

Katya scoffed as Mia opened the door again, "I can't talk to you right now. I'm late for a meeting with my guidance counselor."

Katya winced in sympathy, "Is it cause you threw up in debate?" and her questioned earned her a small glare from her little sister.

"I'm late for a meeting with Spain and Portugal." Clarisse interjected sassily.

"I have a thought." Helen turned to look at Clarisse, "The girls promises to attend princess lessons until your ball."

Clarisse interrupted quickly, "It's not my ball, it's Genovia's annual Independence Day ball."

"I'm sorry." Helen responded, slightly aggravated, "The girls promises neither to accept nor reject your offer to be royal until this grand ball, and then they'll make their decision." She looked between the three of them, "Now, can we all live with that?"

Clarisse sighed, "It seems I have no option."

"If I have to." Mia grumbled unhappily.

Then all eyes turned to Katya, "Oh I've already decided to accept the position." And she watched her mother and sister frown at her while Clarisse let out a relieved smiled.

"Katya," Helen started, worried, "Are you sure? This is a big decision."

She nodded, "I'm sure. If I turn it down the throne goes to Mia, and I know she doesn't want it. So then who knows what would happen. No, I want to do this for the Renaldi family."

Clarisse placed a hand on her granddaughter's shoulder, "Your father would be very proud of you." Then she turned to look at everyone sternly, "But I want not one word of this until that evening. Is that understood?"

"Duh." Mia scoffed

"The press would have a field day with this." she added.

"Uh oh," Katya bit her lip nervously and all eye swiveled to her.

Helen frowned, "Katya, what did you do?"

"Well," She started nervously, "I kinda already told Michael about everything."

"Katyana!" Helena scolded as Mia moaned despondently.

"Who is Michael?" Clarisse asked in confusion.

Mia scoffed as she slipped out of the tower, "Katya's boyfriend."

Katya stuck her tongue out at her little sister, "He is not my boyfriend... yet."

"And you told him... everything?" Clarisse asked worriedly.

Katya shrugged innocently, "I was upset, and I needed somebody to talk to. He's my best friend; I've never kept a secret from him. He won't tell anyone, trust me."

"He better not." Clarisse warned.

"Well," Helen spoke up finally giving a fake smile, "Let's not keep Spain and Portugal waiting."


	5. Chapter 5: Cute Butts in Limousines

The girls followed Clarisse out of the house and down the driveway.

Meanwhile, Mia was chattering on incessantly, "So, I'll be sixteen this year, and mom traded two of her paintings to get me a 1966 Mustang." She paused her ramblings and turned to look at Clarisse, "You do know what a Mustang is, right?"

Clarisse scoffed, "I raise mustangs. That is not a sensible car for a princess."

Katya snickered, "It isn't sensible for anyone. It doesn't run."

"Ah," Clarisse finally understood. She turned to Mia, "Well, I suppose I could donate something to this vehicle."

Katya looked over and smiled, "Good morning, Mr. Robutusen." She called out and waived.

"Who is this gentleman?" Clarisse asked curiously.

"He's our neighbor," Mia answered, "but you wouldn't want to meet him. He doesn't have very nice manners."

Clarisse still smiled at the man politely, "Good morning." Before guiding the girls forward, "There's someone I want you two to meet."

"Okay," Katya nodded and the girls followed her down the drive, only to freeze at the sight that greeted them. There were three limousines parked in front of their house.

"Whoa," Mia exclaimed.

"There are three Limos." Katya stated perplexed.

Clarisse nodded, "One for each of you, I figured you'd like your privacy."

"Do you raise limousines too?" Mia asked jokingly.

Clarisse chuckled, "No," She led Mia to her limo first and made sure she got in safely before leading Katya over to the other limo with a man standing in front of the door, "Katyana, this is Joseph." She introduced them.

She smiled at the older man, "Hi, nice to meet you."

He gave her a light smirk and a small bow, "Princess," and opened the door for her to slip in, closing it behind her.

Once he closed the door, Katya pulled out her phone and called Michael.

_"Hello?"_ he grumbled into the phone, letting her know that he had just woken up.

"Hey," she smiled as Joseph got in the car and began driving; "Hold on," she took the phone from her ear, "Hey Joseph?"

He looked at her in review mirror in response.

"Can we make a quick stop on the way?" she requested.

He nodded and Katya smiled before getting back on the phone, "Hey, you still there?"

_"Yeah I'm here."_ He answered and yawned.

She grinned, "Good, now get your cute little butt dressed; I'm on my way to pick you up and I've got a surprise."

There was a moment of silence before he responded, _"You think my butt is cute?"_

Katya just laughed, "Shut up and get dressed, I'll see you in a few." And snapped her phone shut.

"Hey Joseph, are the flags a necessity?" she asked curiously as she began giving him directions to Michael's house.

Joseph nodded, "Yes, the flags allow me to park anywhere. We keep the flags."

"Okay, Joseph." Katya smiled at the man

He looked back at her and smirked, "You can call me Joe."

She returned his smirk, "Okay, Joe."

"Oh my God!" Michael exclaimed, shocked, as he walked out of his house and found Katya waiting for him, leaning up against a limo.

"I know right." She smirked at him.

"Man," he chuckled as Joe walked over, "You weren't kidding about being a princess."

Katya smiled and shook her head, "That reminds me, you can't tell anyone about that, not even Lily."

Michael nodded distractedly, "Yeah totally, keep it to myself, got it."

Joe opened the door for them, "Oh, Michael this is Joe, Joe this is my best friend Michael. We'll be picking him up for school a lot so get used to his face."

The two men shook hands and they climbed into the car.

"This is amazing," Michael said as he looked around the inside of the limo.

"Isn't it." Katya grinned at him before calling out to Joe, "Hey Joe, can you park a block away from school, please?" She grinned playfully, "I don't want to cause a riot with this hearse."

"This is a non-riot hearse." He assured her, smirking, "And if it were a hearse there would be silence in the back seat."

The two teenagers were silent for a moment until Michael looked over at her, "Man, Joe is sassy." And the two irrupted into a fit of laughter causing Joe to chuckle.

After school Katya had Joe drop her and Michael off at Doc's so they could hang out for a bit before princess lessons. She had packed herself an extra outfit and had used the restroom to change.

At the moment she was sitting on the hood of Mia's car watching the band practice. Katya smirked as she watched Michael sneak M&Ms as he played

She looked over and saw Mia roll through, "Hey, baby sister!" she shouted over the music.

Mia smiled at her and placed a kiss on her 'baby'.

"You've been listening to the sounds of Flypaper. We're flying away now." Michael said as he moved from behind the keyboard and walked over to them.

Katya grinned at him, "Ya'll sounded great. Though, I think you might have a bit of an addiction to M&Ms."

Michael scoffed, "I don't have an addiction. I can quit anytime I want."

The two smirked at each other and Mia let out a groan, "Oh my God, just kiss already and get it over with, guys!" she exclaimed.

Michael blushed and rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed, while Katya's smirk just grew, "Hey, I'm just waiting on Michael to make his move." She said as she jumped off the hood.

Michael's eyes widened and he opened his mouth to respond but was cut off as Doc walked over, "Hello girls."

The girls smiled over at him, "Hey Doc," The responded simultaneously.

"So," Mia started, "what's the diagnosis for my baby?"

Doc shrugged, "Four hundred dollars."

Katya's eyes widened and Mia accidentally hocked the horn when her hand slipped.

Doc nodded in sympathy, "Yeah, I know. It costs to be cool, huh?"

Mia groaned, "This is not my day." She turned to face Katya, "Kitty, how much do you love your baby sister?" she pouted.

Katya sighed, "I'll pay a hundred of it as my birthday present to you, but you have to come up with the rest."

"I'II do some labor free." Michael offered kindly.

Katya smiled over at him, but shook her head, "No you won't. Grandma has already offered to help out with some of it too. Mia can take care of the rest herself."

Mia nodded in agreement, "Thanks for the offer though." She then turned to Katya, "We gotta go."

Katya nodded and looked over at Michael, "I'll see you later; we gotta be somewhere."

The two girls walked out to the limo together, and Michael watched her go the whole way till she was out of sight.

"'Oh, I'll do some labor free'" Doc laughed at him, "You sweet on Katya?"

Michael rolled his eyes, "She's my best friend."

Doc shrugged, "Yeah, well that's the hardest place to be, between friend and friendlier, huh?"

Michael just scoffed and threw his oil rag at the old man.

"Between you and me," Doc started smirking, "I think little Katya's got a thing for you. Go for it."


	6. 6:Grandmothers and Mothers and Sisters,

The girls arrived at the Genovian consulate a bit earlier than originally planned and they were requested to wait in the library. After waiting a few moments, Katya had gotten up to use the restroom, and when she came back she found Clarisse and Charlotte in the room trying to get Mia's attention. She was staring at a painting twirling her hair, and had apparently drifted off into a daze.

"Amelia!" Clarisse finally snapped at her, Mia jumped, shocked and turned around, "Does your bad posture affect your hearing?" She asked her sassily, "Turn." Clarisse motioned.

"Oh, sorry." Mia did a quick spin around and Katya was surprised she didn't get dizzy.

"No, no, no." Clarisse shook her head disapprovingly, "Slowly, turn slowly." Mia did as she requested, "Thank you."

"Well, carriage is obvious. Hairstyle, complexion..." Clarisse began evaluating her as Katya stood back and watched, amused, "Stop!"

Mia froze and stared wide-eyed at their grandmother, "The eyes are lovely," She started sweetly then frowned, "but they're hidden beneath bushman eyebrows."

She continued evaluating, "The neck is seemly, and she has ears like her father." She finished with a fond smile.

Mia smiled bashfully and reached for her ear, "Really? They are?"

"Oh, my!" Clarisse said appalled, grabbing Mia's hand, "Who has nails like these?" looking at the chipped paint on Mia's finger nails.

"Everybody." Mia replied meekly, pulling her hand back and began chewing on her cuticles.

"Well, tomorrow I would like to see clean fingers." Clarisse demanded calmly, "And you will start wearing stockings. Not tights, not socks," Then she looked down and frowned, "and I never want to see those shoes again."

Clarisse then turned her attention to Katya, "Now Katyana, come here."

Katya swallowed nervously and moved over to stand next to Mia, "Spin slowly."

Katya did a slow circle as Clarisse evaluated her, "Hmm Posture could use a bit of work, but isn't horrendous, lovely complexion. Hair could use a touch up, maybe some low lights, and eyebrows are not awful but they do need to be shaped." She then smiled sadly, "You have your father's eyes,"

Katya looked at her brightly and Clarisse cleared her throat and moved on, "beautiful smile; good, straight teeth."

She grabbed one of Katya's hands and was surprised to see nice, clean manicured nails, "Amelia," she looked over at her younger granddaughter, "I thought you said everybody had nails like yours."

Mia rolled her eyes childishly, "Katya doesn't count she's a neat freak."

"Shut up, Amelia." Katya snapped and stuck her tongue out at her baby sister.

Clarisse just hummed, and ignored their childish antics, turning back to Katya, "The shoes and stockings you typically wear to school work just fine, Katyana."

Katya nodded in accord with her statement.

Clarisse finished her assessment and moved on to working on the girls walking style, "When walking in a crowd one is under scrutiny all the time." She informed the girls as she demonstrated how they should move.

Katya tried to mimic her grandmother's walk exactly but ended up tripping halfway through, whereas Mia didn't try at all, instead hunching her shoulders and clomping behind Clarisse.

"So we don't slump, like this." Clarisse scolded, imitating Mia's walk. She made Mia try again, who did an over-exaggerated version of Clarisse's walk.

"That wasn't funny." Clarisse sniffed haughtily.

After a few more minutes of practice, Clarisse moved on to posture; having both girls on either side of her, "We drop the shoulders," Katya felt something flick her ear and tried to brush it away as she focused on what her grandmother was saying, "and we think tall..." She felt it again and once more tried to swat it away, "we tuck under and transfer the weight from one foot to..."

Katya felt it hit one more time and turned just in time to see Mia retract her arm, "Mia! I swear to god!" she exclaimed as she moved to swipe at her little sister.

Mia shrieked and backed away, turning to run out of the room as Katya chased after her. Clarisse just sighed in exasperation.

After rounding the girls back up, Clarisse had moved on to sitting etiquette and was currently scolding the girls for the way they were sitting, "No. Princesses never cross their legs in public."

From the corner of her eye, Katya smirked as she watched as Charlotte tried to subtly uncross her own legs.

"Why don't you just tuck one ankle behind the other and place the hands gracefully on the knees." Clarisse demonstrated for the girls.

Katya looked around Mia so she could see how Clarisse was sitting and tried to copy her exactly, "I did it!" she grinned triumphantly until she saw Mia leaning a little too close to her, "Mia!" she cried in warring, but it didn't stop the girl from toppling her over.

Mia couldn't get her legs to cross properly which resulted in her falling off her chair and taking Katya down with her, "Aah!" Both girls yelped as they landed on the floor, Mia's legs still resting on her chair.

"Charlotte," Clarisse spoke up calmly, "I think it's time for tea."

"That's a great idea," Katya moaned from the floor pathetically.

"Second that." Mia agreed as the girl began to try and detangle themselves from each other.

It was just getting dark out by the time Joe dropped the girls off at home, but the house was still empty, Helen still being at Mia's parent-teacher conference.

The girls went their separate ways to get dressed into their pajamas before meeting back up in the kitchen to start preparing some dinner, well Katya prepared dinner while Mia watched.

Helen came back home not too long after that, she found both girls in the kitchen eating, "Hey girls."

"Hey," Mia greeted quietly but didn't look over at her mother while Katya tried to ignore her presence completely, focusing entirely on her food.

"Just got back from your parent-teacher conference, Mia." Helen commented nonchalantly as she set her purse down on the counter and joined them in the kitchen.

"And?"

Helen smiled happily, "It went well. You won't have to give speeches anymore, and I have a date for this Friday."

Both girls looked over at her in shock, "What?" Mia asked quietly.

Helen nodded enthusiastically, not noticing her daughters' odd facial expressions, "Your debate teacher asked me out on a date, and I said yes."

"Mom!" Mia moaned pathetically, dropping her head into her hands, "You can't date my debate teacher!"

"Why not?" their mother asked confused.

"Because..." She paused trying to think of a good reason, but her mind was blank, "you just can't, alright!" she finally snapped.

"Tell me something," Katya started, "How did you, or really any person for that matter, go into a parent-teacher conference and come out with a date?" she asked sarcastically.

Helen glared over at her eldest daughter before dropping her shoulders and sighing, "Girls, Mr. O'Connell is not married he's not living with anyone, plus he's not pierced, tattooed, or hair-plugged." She smiled a little, "Do you realize how rare that is south of Market Street?"

Katya scoffed and shook her head, but didn't reply. This wouldn't affect her; it was her last year at that school.

"Did it ever occur to you that if you dated one of my teachers it would give the other kids license to mock me for the rest of my life?" Mia exclaimed dramatically.

"Technically," Katya commented nonchalantly, "they could only mock you for the next three years."

Mia glared at her sister, "Shut up, Katya!" before rounding her gaze back to her mother.

Helen frowned thoughtfully and shook her head, "No, you're right. I didn't think, and I'm sorry." She then sighed dreamily, "It's just that Patrick," At the girl's frowns she corrected herself, "Mr. O'Connell is such a nice man. He's a real gentleman, and I haven't met one of those in a long, long time."

Mia shook her head and stood up, "Okay, It's...its fine."

At seeing Mia leave the room, Katya collected her dinner and began to walk out as well, "I just can't do anything right anymore, can I?" She heard her mother question rhetorically.

Katya shook her head sadly as she closed her bedroom door.


	7. 7:She Doesn't bite,but you have to dance

That next afternoon, Katya had come down to the soccer field to watch Mia's practice, "Hey." She greeted quietly as she came to stand next to Michael on the outskirts of the field.

He looked over at her and smiled, "What's up."

Katya shrugged as she watched her little sister get pelted with soccer balls, "Oh you know, fighting with mom, working on my graduation speech... princess lessons driving me batty." She mumbled the last part.

Michael let out a laugh and threw his arm around her shoulders, "Well it sounds to me like you need a break. I'm off work today, why don't we hang out after school?"

Katya frowned petulantly and shook her head. "Can't, I've got lessons today too."

"Oh." He sighed dejectedly.

They stood their quietly watching practice till Katya finally broke the silence, "You could come with me." She offered quietly.

"What?" He laughed incredulously.

She turned and grinned up at him, "Yeah, come with me, you can meet my grandmother, and watch me make a fool out of myself while trying to learn how to be a princess."

Michael thought it over for a moment before smiling back and shrugging, "Sure, I got nothing better to do today. So, why not?"

Katya's smile brightened even more, "Great! So I'll meet you by the limo after school."

He nodded, "See you then."

They said their goodbyes and Katya headed off to next class.

Once school was over Katya, Mia and Michael met up together in the parking lot outside of school, and Katya had already informed Mia that Michael would be joining them today.

"Hey Michael," Mia spoke up as they were about to get into the car.

He turned, "Yeah?"

"Do you mind riding up front with Joe? I gotta change." She requested, smiling awkwardly.

Michael nodded, "Oh, yeah sure, no problem." and slipped into the passenger seat of the limo.

As soon as they were all in and Joe had pulled out of the parking lot, Katya slipped up to the window, "Hey Joe, don't bother taking Michael home today. He's coming with us."

Joe looked over at Michael then glanced back at her with a raised brow, "Is your grandmother aware of this?"

Katya grinned and shook her head, "It's a surprise."

Joe hummed but didn't reply.

Mia called out, "Katya move, I'm turning the back seat into a dressing room now. I have to change into a proper outfit for Madame."

"Yes well, don't forget your shoes." Joe stopped them, "Michael, please hand princess Katyana that box under your feet."

Michael reached down and grabbed it before handing the box behind him to Katya, "Thanks." She smiled and backed up, "Here Mia." She handed the box off to her sister.

"Strange town, San Francisco." Joe interjected, "When I purchased the pumps they asked if I wanted them wrapped or if I wanted to wear them out."

The three teens stared at him for a moment before irrupting into laughter. Katya backed up the rest of the way and Joe closed with window.

Joes and Michael sat in the front seat in silence as they listened to Mia grunt and moan, trying to get dressed.

"Katya," The younger sister whined, "Help me."

Katya sighed, "Oh come here, you big baby."

"Going up." Joe called out.

Mia yelped and the men heard a thump, "Owe, Mia get off me!" Katya cried out.

"You girls alright?" Joe asked as Michael looked at the shut window in concern.

We're fine." Katya called back, "Mia hold still."

"Going down."

There was a thud and Mia cried out again.

"Mia!" Katya moaned in pain, "Your elbow is digging into my ribs."

The men heard one more thump and Mia hissed in pain, "Ouch."

"Oh my God." Katya snapped in aggravation, "Well at least they're on, Put your shoes on now."

"How do you do this every day?" Mia asked pitifully.

Joe looked over at Michael, "I've never put on pantyhose, but it sounds dangerous."

Michael looked back at the older man wide-eyed and nodded.

It didn't take them long before they finally arrived at the Genovian Consulate and everyone got out of the limo.

"Whoa." Michael breathed as the sight of the palace that greeted him.

"Are you excited to meet grandma?" Katya asked looking up at Michael with a smirk.

He gulped nervously and tried to loosen his tie, "Define excited."

She laughed and grabbed his hand, "It'll be fine. She doesn't bite." and began pulling him into the building.

The butler opened the door for them, "Princess Katyana," He bowed as she came through the door, never releasing Michael's hand.

Katya smiled at the man, "Hello Adolfo, this is my friend Michael."

The butler smiled and nodded before moving to greet Mia as she entered.

"The Queen is waiting for you in the parlor." He informed them once they were all inside, and began leading the way to her.

The girls and Michael entered the parlor and found Clarisse going over some files with Charlotte. She stopped however when she caught sight of them entering the room with a person she didn't recognize.

"Hello Katyana, Amelia," She smiled at the two then looked at Michael in confusion, "Who's this?"

Katya pulled him forward a bit, "Grandma, this is my friend Michael I told you about. He's come to watch you torture us." She grinned playfully.

Clarisse chuckled and nodded in recognition, smiling at the boy, "Ah yes," she held out her hand to shake, "Lovely to meet you, Michael. My granddaughter speaks very highly of you."

Michael shook her hand gently and smiled back anxiously, "It's very nice to meet you, your majesty."

"Oh please," Clarisse smiled, "call me Clarisse." She then turned to the girls, "Shall we get started."

Clarisse had led the girls into the dining room and they were currently being held hostage against their chairs by scarves while Michael sat next to Katya and snickered at her.

Clarisse was sitting at the far end of the table taking care of some paperwork.

One of the cooks came around and placed a salad in front of both girls and Michael.

"Thank you," He mumbled as he stared at the salad oddly.

"Grandma," Mia called out as she fought against the scarf holding her captive "is it customary in Genovia to imprison your dinner guests with Hermeez scarves?"

Katya frowned over at her sister, "Its pronounced Hermes, you uncultured swine." She corrected smartly as she tried to reach out for the salt.

Michael chuckled while Mia made a face at her sister.

Clarisse smiled up at them, "The scarf is merely a training tool. Eventually, you girls will learn to sit, and eat properly without it." She pointed at the girls with her pin, "Manners matter."

Michael finally got tired of watching her struggle and reached out to hand Katya the salt shaker, "Thank you."

"But, that's enough etiquette for the day. Now, Genovia does a lot of trade with Spain, so we need to prepare for that." Clarisse began.

"Michael," Katya whispered.

"Yeah?"

"Will you hand me my water?" Michael snorted in laughter but did as she requested and handed the cup to her.

Clarisse stood up and began to exit the room, "Come along girls... and Michael."

Michael stood and helped untie the sister then the three of them followed after Clarisse where she led them into a ballroom, "The quickest way to a Spanish heart is dance."

Joe entered the room and stood next to Mia as Clarisse turned to look over at Michael, "Michael, do you know how to dance?"

He nodded, "Yes ma'am, my mother forced my sister and me to take ballroom dance classes."

Clarisse smiled brightly at the boy, "Good, then would you mind being Katya's partner for this lesson?"

Michael agreed and the men led Katya and Mia to the middle of the floor.

"Now tell me," Joe began as he looked at the sisters, "what kind of dancing do you do?"

Katya smirked, "Not the kind you would approve of." And Michael chuckled at her answer; thinking back to her dance in the music room.

Mia responded then shrugging, "Just the normal kind, you know, like..." She began doing some weird head bobbing thing that closely seemed to resemble the chicken dance.

Michael and Katya watched, trying to contain their amusement, but little snorts of laughter would escape here and there.

"I see." Joe cringed and he turned to look over at Clarisse, "We have a Genovian alternative." He informed them as their grandmother turned the music on.

"Now, the dances here are very sedate..." Mia started bobbing along to the music, "right from the hips in place." Her head never stopped moving, but now her hips were starting to shake as well.

Joe grabbed her head and tried to keep it in place, "No bobbing of the head, please. You are not a doggy on a dashboard."

Katya was using Michael to keep herself upright and she fought back the laughter, and Michael wasn't doing much better containing his own chuckles.

"Let's practice this here." Joe got Mia into position and they bang to move, "Now, this dance is between a waltz and a tango, you see?"'

Mia frowned in confusion, "It's a wango?"

Katya and Michael snickered at Mia's comment.

Joe shook his head, "No, all right, here we go. Spin out..." He spun her out, "and spin into me." Mia began to spin back in, only she was going a bit too fast, "Spin into...Uhh!" She accidentally elbowed Joe in the stomached.

Mia freaked out backing away, and that was when Katya and Michael lost it. They were leaning against each other laughing.

"Katyana," Clarisse called, stopping their laughter, "It's your turn to try."

Katya swallows nervously and Mia smirked at her sister.

She and Michael got into position, "Don't let me make a fool of myself." She begged.

"Relax," He smiled down at her, "I got you."

Clarisse restarted the music, and they began dancing. Michael glided her through the dance gracefully.

Katya smiled, "You're very good at this."

Michael chuckled, "Yeah well, let's just keep this whole dance thing between us."

Katya smirked and looked up at him, "But if the girls of Grove high knew you could dance like this, they'd be falling at your feet." She teased.

Michael grinned and spun her out, Katya slowly spun back in and landed gracefully in his arms. Michael bent his head down to her ear and whispered, "Those other girls don't really matter; I've already got my eye on someone." His breath sent shivers down her spin, and Katya let out a small gasp.

She looked up at him and opened her mouth to respond but was cut off by Mia exclaiming, "Grandma, I spun without hurting anyone!"

Clarisse tore her eyes away from her eldest granddaughter and smiled at Mia, "That's very good new."

They practiced through the dance a couple more times until both girls could get through it almost perfectly without messing up. They had been there for nearly an hour and a half when Clarisse finally stopped the music, "You're both doing very well."

Mia and Katya smiled back at her happily.

"Now you may go." She released them early.

"Thank you!" Mia exclaimed as she rushed out of the room.

Katya grabbed Michael's hand and pulled him out, smiling at Clarisse as they passed by, "See you tomorrow, grandma."

Michael waved, "Bye."

Clarisse smiled, "Goodbye, my dear, Michael,"


	8. Chapter 8:Where, Who, send in Paolo

After school the following day Mia had told them to go on without her, having her own limo there to take her later, and Katya had Joe drop Michael off at work before they began making their way to Clarisse's home for the girls daily princess lessons.

She arrived and found her grandmother sitting in the parlor with Charlotte. The two of them looked up and smiled as Katya entered the room.

"Ah Katyana, you're here early." Clarisse greeted as she checked her watch.

Katya nodded, "Yeah, we left school early to take Michael to work."

Clarisse looked around, "Where is your sister?"

"She told us to go on without her," Katya informed as she moved to sit on the couch, "Said she'd take her own limo today."

Clarisse frowned, "She's going to be late, isn't she?"

Katya grinned over at her, "You're starting to catch on." Her grandmother just sighed.

"Well, while we're waiting, we may as well begin." Clarisse began going over things that only Katya, as the future ruler, would need to know while the waited on Mia to arrive.

"Now," Clarisse gave a small smile, "You do realize that after the ball you will be moving to Genovia with me?"

Katya nodded solemnly, "Yes, I figured that I would need to move there soon, but what about graduation? I am the valedictorian."

Clarisse frowned, "Oh, well when is graduation?"

"In about a month; actually it's the 23rd, I believe."

Clarisse smiled, "Well the ball is on the 19th, so I believe we can postpone our leaving for a couple of days."

Katya let out a relieved sigh, "That's great, but I do have one small request."

"Yes?" Her grandmother asked.

"Well, my birthday is a few days after the ball as well, and I was wondering if when we leave for Genovia, if Michael could come with us and spend a week or two with me?" She questioned quietly, worrying that her appeal would be denied.

Clarisse was quiet for a moment, thinking her requested over. She looked over at Charlotte for a moment, silently communicating, before nodding in acceptance, "I think that can be arranged."

Katya grinned happily and raced over to Clarisse, "Oh thank you, grandma!" she cried as Katya threw her arms around her.

"Omph," Clarisse smiled and gently wrapped her own arms around her granddaughter; "You're welcome, dear."

Mia suddenly slid through the door, stopping in front of the little group. Katya let go of Clarisse and moved back to her original seat.

"You're late." Clarisse spoke, checking her watch.

"I know." Mia sighed, out of breath, "I'm really sorry about it..."

Clarisse cut her off, "And where is Paolo?" She asked turning to Charlotte.

Katya frowned, "Who is Paolo?"

"Send in Paolo." Charlotte spoke into her phone, and immediately a balding middle-aged man walked into the room, "

"Ah!" Clarisse smiled, "Always prompt."

"Regina Mia, bonjourno." The man greeted Clarisse and motioned behind him, "My assistants, Gretchen and Helga."

Clarisse smiled at the two women, "Good afternoon." They nodded and she turned her attention back to Paolo, "We're so pleased you could make yourself available."

"Your Majesty." Paolo bowed and placed a kiss on her hand, then other, and then another until finally, Clarisse pulled her hand away with a forced smile, "We won't waste time, let the work begin."

"Ah. Of course." Paolo smiled and stood to his feet, "Where are the beautiful girls?"

Clarisse motioned to Katya standing beside her, "My eldest granddaughter, Katyana."

Paolo gasped dramatically, "What perfection is this?" He looked her over, "She is lovely." Katya blushed at his praise.

Clarisse smiled and motioned behind him, "And my youngest granddaughter, Amelia."

Paolo grinned brightly and turned, "Aah!" He screamed causing everyone to jump, "She is gorgeous." He covered quickly before quirking his finger at Katya, "come," and led the girls over to a mirror, "Let us take a closer look." He began sorting through Mia's frizzy hair.

Clarisse and Charlotte followed them across the room, "Paolo, we have a limited number of days before the state dinner."

"Busy, busy, busy." He mumbled distractedly as he continued to look Mia over, "In the best sense." He assured the queen.

"Oh," Clarisse was handed some paperwork by Charlotte, "I would like it if your ladies would also sign our confidentiality agreement." She requested handing the paperwork to him.

Paolo nodded, "Majesty, they know what is a secret, eh?" before handing the documents to the young women.

"Excuse me, Your Majesty." Charlotte stepped in, "The Genovian press secretary's waiting for your call.

"Oh, yes, of course." She nodded checking her watch, but frowned in disappointment, "Well, I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave and come back and be surprised."

Mia and Katya glanced at each other worriedly, and Katya's alarm only grew when she heard her grandmother whisper to Charlotte, "Charlotte, watch him like a hawk."

Helga led Katya over to a chair and began working on her eyebrows while Paolo fought with Mia's hair. They had given her a pair of headphones while they worked, so she couldn't hear what they were talking about, but she did see Mia's hair break the brush.

Once they had finished her eyebrows, they began working on her hair; Paolo had said something about touching up her roots and adding some low lights. While waiting for the color to set in, Gretchen gave Katya's manicure a touch up while Helga gave her a pedicure.

All in all her makeover didn't take nearly as long as Mia's did, the rest of her time was spent with the ladies styling her hair and doing her makeup. By the time they had finished both girls, they had been there for four hours.

Once they got Clarisse back the room, Paolo demanded on doing a dramatic reveal, "Majesty, Paolo is exhausted. Because only Paolo can take this and this" He pointed to two pictures of Mia pre-transformation, "and give you..."

"A princess." Gretchen and Helga finished simultaneously, pulling the pictures away and revealing a new Mia.

Clarisse moved to stand next to Mia and smiled, "Better, much better."

Paolo grinned and placed his hand on the back of the chair Katya was sitting in, "And now your majesty, I give to you... Genovia's future queen." He spun the chair around.

Clarisse grinned, "And what a beautiful queen she will make." She looked over at Paolo, "Very nice work. Now, why don't we go and have a wonderful cup of tea?"

"Si." Paolo sighed in exhaustion.

They both walked out of the room, "Come girls," Clarisse called back but neither moved.

Katya looked over at her sister, "You ready?"

Mia nodded hesitantly and both sisters turned around to take in there appearance. Katya smiled happily, there wasn't a huge difference in her appearance like Mia had, but she looked good.

Katya then looked over to see what Mia thought of how she looked and grinned at the look of shock she wore.

She stood up and walked over to Mia's chair, she wrapped her arms around her baby sister, "You look beautiful."

Mia smiled up at her, "We actually look like sisters now."

The girls giggled as she walked out of the room and followed behind their grandmother and Paolo.

That following Monday, Katya was shifting in her seat nervously as Joe drove them to pick up Michael for school.

"Is everything alright, princess?" Joe called from the front.

Katya nodded distractedly and the ride was once again silent, until she spoke up, "What if he doesn't like it?"

Joe gave a slight smile, he knew she was worried about Michael not liking her new look, "He would be a fool not to see just how lovely you are."

Katya smiled and blushed, "Thanks Joe."

"Though," Joe spoke up again, "I don't think that's something you should worry about, anyone with eyes can see how crazy that boy is about you."

They pulled up in front of the house and found Michael waiting for them outside. He gave a waive to Joe in the front seat and slipped into the back, shutting the door behind them.

"Hey, I..." His words died out when he turned and saw Katya sitting there smiling shyly at him.

"Hi," She replied quietly.

Her words brought Michael out of his shock, "Wow..."

Katya grinned, "So, what do you think?"

He gave a jerky nod, "You look...wow." Was all he could say.

She chuckled, "Well, I'm glad you like it."

He laughed, embarrassed, "It looks great, really. You look beautiful."

Katya smiled warmly, "Thank you." Then she smirked, "So, you ready for school?"

Michael groaned.


	9. Chapter 9: He left the Car

Later that afternoon, Mia had been given an off day from her princess lessons, so it was just Katya. She had left school and gone directly to her grandmother's home. At the moment she was following Clarisse and Charlotte around the garden reading a Genovian history book.

"The garden is lovely;" Began Clarisse, "but now we need fountains..."

"You should put some lights in the trees," Katya interjected, not even bothering to lift her head from the book.

Clarisse nodded in agreement, "Excellent idea, Katyana, and the Japanese embassy has a waterfall in their garden. Why can't we have fountains?"

"We have a fountain over there ma'am." Charlotte informed her, pointing across the garden.

"Yes well, I would like at least two in here." She pointed at the spot before them, "Charlotte, just make me an Eden."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Katyana," Clarisse called out once she was finished.

Katya closed her book and walked over to stand beside her grandmother, "Yes?"

"Let us continue our lessons inside."

Clarisse led them into out of the garden and into the library and handed Katya a large stack of books, "In your spare time I would like for you to read these."

"Okay," Katya agreed, looking through the books, "Would you like me to re-read the ones I've read, already?"

Clarisse looked up at her in shock, "Which ones have you read?"

Katya took the two Jane Austin books and the one by Virginia Woolf and handed them back to her grandmother.

"You've read all of these?" Clarisse asked in astonishment.

Katya nodded, "I went through a Jane Austin phase a couple of years ago, and I've read just about all her works. And I had to read _A room of one's own_ for school last year."

"Ah," Clarisse smiled and nodded, "Then no, just read the _Amy Vanderbilt Complete book of Etiquette_."

Katya nodded, "Alright."

"What's in a name?" Katya began to read as she stood behind a podium in front of her grandmother. Mia was sitting on one of the couches, engrossed in her own book that Clarisse had given her to read, "That which we call a rose my any other name would smell as sweet."

Clarisse smiled and nodded, "Good, a nice clear speaking voice is very important. You're doing very well. Let's try another one."

Katya nodded and started to read once more, "To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man."

Clarisse sighed blissfully, "Oh, I do love Shakespeare."

"And so you wave to them, and acknowledge them gracefully." Clarisse instructed.

They had set some chairs up to represent a car, and Joe was pretending to drive as the three of them sat in the 'back seat'. Clarisse was trying to teach the girls the proper way to acknowledge a crowd.

The girls began pretending to wave out the windows but was stopped by Clarisse, "No, not quite so big because, of course, it is very exhausting after a while."

Mia started goofing off, giving the thumbs up and pointing, winking and doing other odd hand gestures while Katya sat there and laughed at her, "Very funny, but now try it properly," They began to mimic how their grandmother was waving but did it a bit too quickly.

"A bit more gently, dears," Clarisse advised, "You say, 'Thank you for being here today'."

"Thank you for being here today." They all said simultaneously while waiving several times.

Joe pretended to place the 'car' into park and turned to face them, "I'm sorry ladies, but I must pick up the prime minister."

They all turned as Joe walked out of the room, and waved goodbye to him, "Thank you for being here today."

Once he was gone, Katya turned to face her sister and grandmother, and gave them a look of mock confusion, "How is he going to pick up the prime minister? He left the car." She motioned to the chairs they were sitting in.

Later that night, as a way to try and mend fences with the girls, Helen suggested they paint together, as a family. They hadn't had much time together since Clarisse arrived.

"So this is considered art?" Katya questioned as she threw a dart at the board covered in paint fill balloons and hit a yellow one making paint run down the board.

Helen laughed, "My parents did this in the Sixties." She hit a blue balloon, "Yes!" Helen cried out, "They had an exhibition at Woodstock."

"Papa and Mimi?" Katya questioned, surprised.

"Yep."

"And I guess you're trying to bring it back?" Mia teased as she came to stand next to them.

Helen shrugged, "Well, this beats homework."

"Yeah, some moms help their kids with homework..." Mia stated laughing.

Katya grinned, "Instead, we do this." and threw a dart.

"Oh, nice shot!" Helen congratulated.

"BuII's-eye!"

"Yeah!"

"I did it!" Mia cried out as she finally hit a balloon and the three of them threw their arms around each other in a tight group hug.

They finally pulled away, and Mia sighed happily, "This is way more fun than princess lessons."

Katya wrinkled her nose playfully, "I don't know, I'm enjoying them." She said as she followed her sister into the kitchen.


	10. Chapter 10: It's a Date isn't it?

The next morning Joe dropped Katya and Michael off a block away as usual, and the two were currently making their way to school, with Lily and Mia walking a couple of steps behind them.

"So," Michael started awkwardly, "what are you doing this Saturday night?"

Katya smirked over at him, "Why, you got something you wanna do?"

He shrugged nonchalantly, "The band's rehearsing some new things. We got two new songs."

"Oh, yeah? Cool." She smiled.

Michael nodded, "Plus, we just got the parts in for Mia's 'stang."

"I'm sure she'll be excited to hear it." Katya replied, taking a quick look back at her sister before turning back to face Michael.

He smiled, "I know how much you enjoyed helping me out when we were working on your car, and I figured that we could put Mia's together... together." He finished nervously.

"Sounds good, I'll be there," Katya smirked, "but only on one condition."

"What's that?" he asked curiously.

She tapped her chin lightly, "Let's see, there will be music, cars, and we must include pizza." She smiled.

Michael nodded, "Pizza's a given."

"Of course, and knowing you it'll have M&M's on it. So the only thing that's missing is the definition of whether this is a date or not."

He swallowed nervously, "Do you, uh, do you want it to be... a date, that is?"

Katya grinned over at him, "Well, if you wanted to classify it as a date, I wouldn't be opposed to the idea."

Michael smiled brightly, "Great, so Saturday, it's a date."

"Great," Katya frowned as they got closer to the school and noticed a commotion going on in front. The girls walked over to them.

"What's happening over there?" Mia asked curiously.

Katya and Michael shrugged as the four of them moved closer to the school. There were news van everywhere and all the students were standing around trying to get caught on camera.

"What's going on?" Michael asked.

Maybe it's a protest." Lily responded, pulling her camcorder out of her bag.

Katya walked over to one of the camera men, with Michael following behind her, "Hi, excuse me, what are you all waiting for?"

"There they are right there!" Lana cried from the top of the stairs, "That's Katya and Mia Thermopolise!"

The camera guy grinned at her, "We're waiting for you." He brought his camera up to his face a snapped a picture of her.

Within seconds the two girls were separated from their friends and everyone was calling out for them.

"Right here, princess!"

"Talk to me!"

"Princess Katya, Princess Mia!"

Mia turned back and looked at Lily, "Lily, did you tell?" she cried out, upset.

Lily shook her head, "No, I didn't say anything."

Katya reached out for Michael, trying to find him in the sea of people, "Michael!"

"Katya!" she heard him call back and watched as he fought through the crowd of reporters until he was standing beside her and grasped her hand tightly.

"Who's your favorite actor?"

"What do you do about pimples?"

"Can we quote you, your majesty?"

The questions and the flashing lights were none stop. Finally, vice principal Gupta ran down the stairs and wrestled Mia away from the crowd, and she and Michael helped get the girls inside the building and away from the press.

She led the girls into her office to sit and try to calm down, all the while Katya never let go of Michael's hand and forced him to stay in the room with her.

"The phone is ringing off the hook." Vice principal Gupta told the girls, showing them the day's newspaper.

Mia stood up and snatched it out of her hand, "What?" she fell back into her chair in shock, "Oh,"

Katya frowned in confusion, "How did this happen?"

"Girls," Mr. O'Connell spoke up, "Your mother's on her way."

The principal's phone rang and she answered it.

"Katya," Michael said quietly.

"Hmm?" she looked up at him.

"I just want you to know, it wasn't me. I didn't tell anyone about this."

Katya smiled kindly up at him, "I know it wasn't you, Michael."

Ms. Gupta finally hung up the phone and looked up at the girls, "The queen is coming, to Grove High School."

Clarisse and Helen seemed to arrive at the school about the same time and Ms. Gupta immediately moved to the other side of the room to fix them some tea, offering her chair to Clarisse.

Clarisse looked over and smiled at Michael, "Hello Michael, it's lovely to see you again, though I wish it was under better circumstances."

He smiled back, "Nice to see you again, your maje...Clarisse." He corrected at her stern look.

Helen sighed and sat down in the chair beside Mia, "How did this happen, girls?"

Katya shrugged, "We don't know. Both Michael and Lily have sworn they didn't say anything, and they were the only two people we told."

Helen threw her hands up in frustration, "Well you must have told someone else."

Mia spoke up, "Mom, we don't know who told on us."

Their mother sighed, "We'll get to the bottom of this."

Ms. Gupta brought the tea over to Clarisse as gracefully as possible then handed another cup to Helen a little more forcefully.

Clarisse thanked the woman then called out, "Joseph?"

Joe came into the room with Paolo following behind him. Joe shut the door, "Speak." He demanded.

"Paolo?" The girls questioned simultaneously.

Michael leaned forward, "Who's that?" she whispered.

Katya looked up at him, "He's the one that gave us our makeovers."

"Ah." He nodded in understanding.

"Majesty, it was I who told the press about you. I outed you, so to speak. I don't mean to imply..." he smiled lightly and took a step farther into the room only to be held back by Joe.

"Grazie."

"Prego."

"But not for money," Paolo denied heatedly, "Paolo hates money, he spits on money. There was no money." Then he paused and gave another light smile, "Well, some money. A man like me, each ring is..."

Paolo stopped at the unamused look on everyone's face, "The point is, it was pride and ego that drove me to know that royalty would see one day the beauty was mine! The hair was mine!" He started talking feverishly again and Katya started to smirk at how worked up the man was getting, "That I, Paolo Puttanesca, was responsible for..." he moved forward again, and once more Joe stopped him.

"Grazie."

"Prego."

Joe began to lead him out of the room, "By the way, your hair is magnificent, Amelia. The next time, we go a little lighter?" The door was shut.

Katya chuckled a little and Michael looked down at her, "Is he always like that?"

She simply nodded and smiled.

"Isn't that just awful?" Ms. Gupta cooed, "Doesn't anyone respect royalty anymore?" She knelt down on the floor beside Clarisse's chair, "What is it like in Genovia, Your Majesty? Do people just fawn over you?"

Clarisse backed as far away from the woman and gave her a practiced smile, "I wonder, would you give us a moment alone?"

Ms. Gupta looked at her confused, "I'm the vice principal."

Katya, Michael and Mia smirked at each other as they watched Ms. Gupta make a fool of herself.

"Joseph, would you take this fine educator, and show her your security plans for Katyana and Amelia's safety?"

Ms. Gupta looked extremely excited for this opportunity.

"What?" Joe questioned, confused.

Clarisse just sent him a look and he nodded, "Ah, yes, of course." He began trying to lead the woman from the room.

"Your Majesty, thank you." She kept bowing as they backed out of the room.

"Your security system is a bit lax." Joe informed her as they shut the door behind them taking Mr. O'Connell and Michael with them.

"A week ago, my girls were normal children." Helen complained.

Katya scoffed playfully, "Mia has never been normal." the rest of the room pretended not to hear her cheeky comment.

"They have never been normal, they were born royal" Clarisse replied calmly, "We cope with the press every single day, and we will do it again."

Helen turned to look at the two of them pleadingly, "You girls don't have to do this. You both can get out of this whole thing right now."

Clarisse sighed, but nodded, "Your mother is right, girls, we had a bargain."

"...AII right," Mia frowned, "I will think about it, and let you know soon."

"Good." Clarisse congratulated, "A diplomatic answer. Polite, but vague."

Helen focused her attention on her eldest daughter, "Katya?" she pleaded.

Katya frowned at her mother, "I don't know what everyone is so worked up about. Sure the press found out a little earlier than we expected, but this would have happened no matter how we announced it." She took a breath, "I still have every intention of accepting my role as princess and future ruler of Genovia, it's going to take a lot more than some cameramen to scare me away."

Clarisse smiled at her eldest granddaughter, "Well I'm glad to hear it."

Helen scoffed and walked out of the room. Mia sighed and stood as well, "I'll go talk to her." and followed her mother out.

Katya sighed and looked up at her grandmother, "Do you think I'm the right person for this job, grandma?"

Clarisse looked at her, confused, "What on earth do you mean?"

She shrugged, "I see the way everyone responds to you, how much you are respected and loved and I just worry that maybe I'm biting off more than I can chew." She frowned up at Clarisse, "I want my people to someday look at me the same way I see them all look at you."

Clarisse smiled gently at her eldest granddaughter, "Oh my dear, the fact that you are so worried about if you're going to be a good ruler, proves to me just how right for the job you are."

Katya smiled hopefully up at her grandmother from across the table.


	11. Chapter 11: Not as Boring as she thought

A few days after the girls were 'outed' there was the dinner party that Clarisse was hosting, and it was the first party of many to come for the girls. They had been told that they would not be entering with Clarisse, but they would be able to enter together.

Mia was the first to go down the stairs and Katya followed behind her at a leisurely pace with Joe waiting at the end of the staircase for them. She was so nervous; she had to keep reminding herself to stand up straight and to keep a smile on her face.

The sisters reached the end of the stairs and he offered each girl an arm.

"Well done," He murmured comfortingly to them both, "The worst is over."

He led the girls around the room, nodding and smiling at everyone they passed until they finally came to face a robust older man standing beside a lovely older woman and a little girl.

Joe gestured to the man, "This is our diligent prime minister, Sebastian Motaz,"

The girl's greeted him kindly as he bowed and kissed both of their hands, "And his lovely wife Sheila," she smiled at the two girls and curtsied, "and their charming daughter, Marissa."

Mia simply smiled at the young girl, while Katya lent down to face her and held out her hand, "Hello, it's very nice to meet you."

The little girl smiled back and shook Katya's hand, "Hi," then she frowned, "I'm not allowed to go to the party." She said petulantly and everyone laughed.

Katya grinned, "Well, why would you want to? It's going to be very boring."

Marissa giggled at Katya, and everyone smiled at the scene.

"Dinner is served." Adolfo called out, and Joe began to lead the girls into the dining room. Unfortunately, the sisters were not sitting next to each other. Katya was sitting farther up on the table, closer to Clarisse's chair.

Everyone had just been seated when the harpist began playing signally Clarisse's arrival. The guests all stood to their feet as the Prime Minister announced, "Her Majesty, Queen Clarisse."

Clarisse glided into the room, as beautiful and graceful as ever. Katya looked at someone the faces of the guest in attendance and saw the respect and care in their eyes as they watched her grandmother enter the room. Katya could only hope that someday they would be giving her that same look.

Clarisse reached her chair and smiled at everyone, motioning for them to take their seats as she herself sat down.

Katya was seated next to a Scottish man and his wife, while Clarisse was seated at the head of the table on his other side.

"How are the children, Robby?" Clarisse asked the kilted man.

He grinned proudly, "Would you like to see them, Ma'am?" and without waiting for a reply he stood up and pulled a little booklet out to show her some pictures, "There's Ryan," he pointed at one picture, "And there's Bridget." He showed her another.

Katya grinned as she watched her grandmother converse with the man, "Oh they're beautiful." She declared before trying to show the man on the other side of her, "Would you like to see?"

The gentleman looked over at the picture then shook his head and went back to his soup.

Katya looked down trying to his her smiled at the dumbfounded look on her grandmother's face.

Katya turned to face the Scottish man and his wife, "How old are they?"

They talked for a while about their children and she could tell how proud they were.

All of the sudden Katya caught sight of something happening from the corner of her eye, she turned her head and noticed that Mia had caught her place card on fire. She quickly set it back down, only for it to light up the sleeve of the gentleman next to her.

Katya watched wide-eyed as she shoved the man's arm into an ice bucket and threw the water on him. Mia looked over at her big sister horrified and it seemed as though she were about to hyperventilate.

Calm down," Katya mouthed to her, "Deep breaths." She motioned for her sister to breathe deeply.

The waiters had just sat down a delicious looking soup when Mia came over to the head of the table and bent down to Clarisse's side, "You wanted to see me?"

Clarisse smiled down at her, "Yes I did, is everything alright?"

Mia waived her concern off, "Oh yes everything's fine."

"What was happening with the ice bucket?" their grandmother questioned and Katya took a spoonful of soup to hide her amused grin.

"Oh," Mia said nonchalantly, "I just had a little clumsy moment."

Clarisse smiled, "Okay."

They were a few courses in, when the waiters placed a mint colored dessert in front of everyone. Katya scooped a little onto her spoon and ate it. She smiled at how good it tasted, but the frowned when she began to hear an odd muffled sound coming from down the table.

She looked over only to see Mia with a mouthful of the frozen treat and was having trouble swallowing it all.

"'M fine, it's a little cold." Mia mumbled uncomfortably.

Katya watched as the prime minister and his wife scooped up large spoonfuls of the treat as well and ate it. They then began copying every ridiculous thing Mia did.

Katya looked over at her grandmother and the two shared a dumbfounded look before going back to watch the little performance. Finally, after a time, they were able to swallow the frozen dessert and they all let out a gasp of relief.

Clarisse tried to brush it off and smiled at the gentleman to her right, "Have you ever experienced that instant headache when you eat ice too quickly?"

Emperor Sakamoto just stared at her and shook his head, "No."

The waiter came and placed the main course down for everyone and the prime minister stood to feet and began clearing his throat.

Mia decided to help him along by banging her knife against her glass, and she ended up shattering it.

Katya sighed sadly as she watched her sister apologize and the waiter came over to clean the mess.

"I would like to propose a toast, to the Baroness and Baron Von Troken... May you always be Baron." The prime minister said and the table lifted their class.

Katya smirked lightly at the man's little play on words.

The waiters finally came around and placed the last dessert in front of them.

"Ahh," The Scotsman said, "The famous Genovian pear and cheese dessert."

Clarisse smiled, "What else." She looked to Katya and smiled seeing her talk with her dinner companions and behaving like a proper princess, and then she turned and looked farther down the table to see Mia picking up a grape with her hand. Clarisse caught her eye and motioned for her to use he silverware.

Somehow Mia had ended up on the floor underneath the table. When the drunken man she was sitting next to stood up to leave he tripped over her and ran into a server that was carrying two pitchers of water.

The waiter fell back and knocked the prime minister into his food and dumped the water all over the guests. Another waiter walking by with a plate of food slipped on the wet floor and the food he was carrying went airborne before landing all over the table.

Katya sat there shocked as she watched this happen. She looked over at her grandmother to see the disappointed look on her face. Then Emperor Sakamoto began laughing as he picked up the grapes that landed on his plate, and his laughter set off the whole table.

Mia was still sitting on the floor watching the room dumbfounded.

Finally, even Clarisse and Katya joined in on the laughter, "Shall we adjourn to the great hall for coffee?" Clarisse suggested chuckling.

Mia just crawled further under the table.


	12. Chapter12:Should havetakentheChallenger

The next day, after the dinner party, Clarisse had the girls meet up with her out in the green house.

"This place was such a mess when I first arrived, and I've been spending every spare moment in it I can." She informed the girls as they stood watching her mist the pants. "Pick up one of these," She motioned to the spray bottle, "make yourselves useful. Just spray everything."

Katya walked over and grabbed two bottles, and handed one to Mia as she began spritzing everything.

"You're not mad at me for what happened?" Mia asked curiously as she followed her sister's example and began spraying down the plants.

Clarisse smiled over at her youngest granddaughter, "Actually, I found it all rather funny. It reminded me of my first royal dinner party." She told them as they moved around the greenhouse, "I accidentally knocked over a suite of armor and the spear went right through the suckling pig." She laughed at the memory of it.

Katya chuckled, "Well that's more embarrassing than anything Mia did last night."

"Excuse me," Mia frowned over at her sister, "did you not see me catch Lord Fricker's arm on fire."

Katya winced, "Okay, that was a little bad, but he wasn't hurt, Mia." Her little sister didn't respond that time.

Clarisse and Katya watched as she moved around the greenhouse gloomily.

Clarisse set her spray bottle down and smiled at her two granddaughters, "Girls, why don't we cancel lessons for today and just have some fun." She suggested.

Mia looked up, confused, "Fun?"

Katya walked over to them, "You're not too busy for something like that?"

Just then Charlotte walked into the room, "Your Majesty, Lady Jerome has just arrived, and I have the French Consulate's assistant on hold." Katya and Mia glanced at each other and went back to watering the plants, "He wants to confirm tonight's dinner."

Clarisse smiled and shook her head, "Send my apologies, and cancel everything for today." The girls looked up hopefully, "I am being shown San Francisco by some true San Franciscans." Katya and Mia grinned happily at her, "Tell Joseph we'll need the car."

Charlotte smiled, understanding, "Yes, Ma'am."

"Wait," Mia cut in before Charlotte could leave, "I want to show you, my baby."

Clarisse and Charlotte's eye widened in horror, and Katya let out a loud laugh, "She means her car, grandma."

Clarisse let out a breath of relief.

Mia looked around the room confused, "What did you think I meant?"

The three of them were driving through the Golden Gate Bridge. Katya had decided to let Mia drive her own car since Clarisse had informed them she had a driver's license; so Katya had opted for the back seat.

"I haven't sat in the front seat of a car in the longest time." Clarisse exclaimed happily and Katya chuckled at her enthusiasm.

Mia smiled over at her then back at her sister, "By the way, thank you both for the money for my car."

As they got further into the drive Katya began to smile, recognizing the familiar roads.

"So where are you two taking me?"

"Well," Katya began, as she leaned forward and smiled, "Do you have any change on you?"

Clarisse scoffed, "No, It's not appropriate for royalty to jingle."

Katya snorted at her answer, "Okay, we'll go get the change."

The girls took Clarisse to the Musee Mecanique, a vintage penny arcade and museum."

They played a few games before Mia led them over to the arm wrestling station.

"Oh," She exclaimed, "This one's my favorite. You put a quarter in and grab his hand." Mia explained to her grandmother.

Clarisse looked at her in a bit of horror, "I touch that?"

Katya laughed at her reply, "Yes, grandma, you touch that, and then you press the button and it'll start."

Clarisse pulled a napkin out of her purse and wiped the hand down before grabbing it, "He looks like Rupert's cousin from Liechtenstein." And the two girls laughed at her. "Now, how do I know when it's ready?"

"Oh, it'll just go." Mia answered as she and Katya sat back and watched.

The mechanical hand began to move, "There you go, it's going!" Mia cried.

"Ow," Clarisse rubbed her arm as the Clown above them began laughing, "You enjoy this humiliation?"

Katya laughed, "It's hard the first time, but you can always try again." She suggested, grinning.

Clarisse slipped her purse off her arm and handed it to Katya, "Hold this."

"Come on," Mia encouraged, "You can do it, grandma."

"I'm ready for you this time." Clarisse smiled.

"Kick his butt," Katya laughed happily, as she watched her grandmother get all fired up.

The game started up again and Clarisse immediately reacted this time, grabbing the mechanical arm with both hands and began pulling it down, while the girls cheered for her.

"You did it!" Mia exclaimed, "Give me five."

Clarisse looked up confused, "Five?"

Katya nodded, "Five," the girls showed her how to give 'five' and Clarisse copied their actions with each of them.

The girls then took her to a photo booth where they all crammed inside and took some pictures. They came out of the booth as their pictures fell down the little shoot.

Katya pulled them out and showed them to Clarisse and Mia.

"Oh," Clarisse smiled, "I want one of these!" She ripped one off and handed the rest to Mia, "Just not this one."

The girls then took her to the boardwalk and got themselves a corndog.

"So," Mia began, "did our father always want to be a prince?"

Clarisse turned to look at the sisters, "Oh, yes. Except once, about seventeen years ago," She smiled over at Katya, "he seriously considered renouncing his title because he met a lovely artist who showed him wonderful things about how life could be how he could be."

Katya looked down sadly, "But?"

Clarisse nodded, "But, he had a decision to make, and nobody could make it for him. Not I, though many people thought l did, or anybody else." She sighed, "Philippe knew that my firstborn, his brother Pierre, wanted to abdicate which he did, eventually, to join the church. Your father realized that the love he could have for one person, or even three,"

She looked softly at the girls and Katya turned her head away and discreetly wiped the tear from her cheek, "could not make him forget the love he felt for his country and its people. It was the hardest thing he ever had to do."

"Um...oh..." Mia said quietly while Katya just looked out at the sea sadly.

"Do you want a bite of this?" Mia offered her corn dog to Clarisse.

Clarisse looked at it for a second before smiling, "Why not?" She lifted it up, "Well, here goes." Clarisse took a bite and looked up at Mia brightly, "Why, it's delicious!"

"Really?" Mia exclaimed happily.

"Mm-hmm." Their grandmother nodded.

"Oh, okay!" Mia smiled, "Let's get another one!"

"Here," Katya cut in "You can have mine. I'm not very hungry anymore." She handed Mia her corn dog and walked off further down the boardwalk.

Clarisse and Mia watched her go, and Clarisse turned to look at her youngest granddaughter in confusion so Mia explained, "Katya was very close to dad, they talked almost every day over the phone, and she took it really hard when he passed. It still hurts her to talk about him."

"Oh," Clarisse looked back at the disappearing figure of her eldest granddaughter sadly.

They stayed at the park for another hour before finally heading back to the car, where they found Katya waiting for them taking a nap in the back seat. They both slipped inside and left, heading back for the consulate.

Katya slept through the entire ride and awoke slowly when she began to hear screaming. Before she could sit up and find out why there was yelling going on, Katya was thrown into the floor of the car.

"Ow!" she cried and tried to sit up, "What just happened?"

"Katyana!" Clarisse cried, "Are you alright?"

"I think so," She replied sitting up, "Did we hit something?" She turned around and saw the Bus they had run into, "Oh, God." She muttered.

"You didn't hear the bell!" The trolley driver screamed down at them.

"Put down the destruction of public property." The trolley driver instructed the cop urgently.

"I will, I will," The police officer waved him off, "And last, but not least, driving without a license; accompanied by an adult whose license expired forty-five years ago, and the only occupant in the car with an active driver's license was taking a nap in the back seat."

Mia cringed as he finished reading off her charges, while Katya stood back leaning against the car. Mia came over and joined her and Katya threw a comforting arm around her little sister.

"I knew we should have taken my car." Katya murmured to Mia, who just sent her a strained smile.

"I've been trying to tell you, Officer. Licenses don't expire in Genovia. Not for the queen. Don't I have diplomatic immunity?" Clarisse exclaimed, frustrated.

The officer nodded, "You do, but her we have to take downtown." He pointed at Mia.

Mia looked up in horror, "What?"

The cop shrugged. "I'm sorry, miss."

Clarisse sighed and looked down, "It's all right, Officer. I understand." Before she lifted her head and smiled brightly, "I understand perfectly."

Katya and Mia looked at her indignantly, "You do?" they asked simultaneously.

Clarisse nodded, "Girls, no town, no city, no country can function peacefully if its officers and its transportation engineers don't follow the letter of the law."

The officer and Trolley driver nodded their heads with what Clarisse was saying.

"Why, I would be proud to have two such fine, honorable gentlemen serving in Genovia." Clarisse continued to compliment the men and Katya began to smile, realizing what her grandmother was doing, though, Mia still looked a bit confused.

"Aw, shucks, ma'am." The officer said bashfully, bowing his head.

"Ma'am, we're not all that." The trolley man tried to protest modestly and the officer nodded in agreement.

But Clarisse wouldn't hear it and raised her hand to stop their protest, "Oh, but you most certainly are. As a matter of fact, I would like to bestow upon you the honor of the Genovian Order of the..." She paused in thought and looked around spotting a street sign that said 'rose', "uh...Genovian Order of the Rose."

Mia still looked confused so Katya nudged her sister and nodded her head in the direction of the street sign. Mia's eyes widened in realization and both girls decided to help out a bit, "Oh...oh! Ooh!" the rest of the people on the trolley copied them.

The two men looked dumbstruck at what was happening.

"Would you please kneel?" Clarisse requested, smiling, and the police officer bent down and removed his hat.

"Um...does anybody have a saber?" She asked looking around.

An elderly woman in on the trolley called out, "Oh! I've got an umbrella!"

Clarisse shook her head but smiled gratefully.

Katya spoke up, "Mia has this emergency brake."

Clarisse too it, "This will do fine thank you." and stood in front of the officer, "With the power vested in me by the royal crown of Genovia I dub thee..." she paused.

"Artie Washington, San Francisco, ma'am." He provided for her.

"Arthur Washington." She tapped both of his shoulders with the brake while the girls stood back grinning, "And l dub thee..."

The trolley operator bent down, "Bruce Macintosh of San Leandro."

"Bruce Macintosh..." She tapped both of his shoulders as well, "masters of the Order of the Rose. And all of you bear witness to this auspicious moment in history. Please rise."

The two men stood to their feet upon Clarisse's request.

"Wait till I go home and tell Bernice." Officer Washington exclaimed.

"Now Mia," Clarisse began, "I know you don't want to go all the way downtown, but..."

Officer Washington interrupted her, "That really won't be necessary. No one got hurt, did they?" The trolley riders shook their heads.

"We're insured," Bruce informed helpfully and Officer Washington nodded his head.

"Chivalry ain't dead, you know,"

Clarisse smiled at the two men, "Noble Arthur, how very kind."

"Do you need a lift home?" Officer Washington asked her.

"Oh, that would be very helpful, thank you." Clarisse agreed, "Come along, girls Good-bye, trolley people!"

Katya walked over to the tow man, "Please take the car to Doctor Motors?" before walking back over to her grandmother and Mia standing beside the police car.

"Good-bye!" Clarisse waived to everyone.

"You were awesome!" Mia exclaimed.

Katya nodded her head and smirked, "You are definitely the coolest queen ever!"

Clarisse brushed their praise off, "All in a day's work."

"Would you like to slide in first?" Mia asked her motioning to the car.

"I never slide." Clarisse shook her head. Mia nodded and slid into the car first followed by Katya, and Clarisse followed behind them.


End file.
